Rob Lowe's Text Mishap: Accidentally Congratulated Bradley Cooper Instead of Robert Downey Jr.

The Mishap

Rob Lowe, 59, shared the flub during his Wednesday, January 17, appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. 'I’m so excited for him and so I text him, ‘So glad you won, that is the most beautiful acceptance speech I’ve heard in a long time. Boy, do you deserve it,'' the actor recalled to host Jimmy Kimmel. 'I hit send and I realize, ‘Oh s–t. I just sent that to Bradley Cooper.''

He continued, 'So then I was like, ‘Oh, I gotta make it better’ and I said, ‘No, no, I meant that for Robert Downey, Jr.,'' Lowe continued. 'I’m like, ‘No! That’s even worse. Make the guy feel worse.''

Lowe explained that the mix-up was due to putting 'the wrong numbers under the wrong names,' in his phone. When Kimmel, 56, asked if he then sent the correct text to Downey, Lowe said he mistakenly messaged Cooper, 49, again, who thankfully had a sense of humor about the situation.

The Reaction

'He literally said, ‘No, no, no, I like living vicariously through these mistakes,'' Lowe said of Cooper’s response.

Lowe, who is a longtime friend (and former high school classmate) of Downey, reflected on the actors’ journey together through Hollywood. 'When we were kids, the grown-ups won the awards,' he said told Kimmel. 'And now that we’re the grown-ups, we’re winning the awards. So to watch Downey go out there and do it, it’s just the best.'

The Golden Globe Awards

At the 81st Golden Globe Awards on January 7, Downey won Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for his role as Lewis Strauss in the blockbuster historical drama Oppenheimer. Cooper was also nominated for his work on the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, both for Best Director — Motion Picture and Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama but did not win either category.

In Downey’s acceptance speech, he acknowledged Oppenheimer’s massive box office success as well as shouted out his cast and crew. 'A sweeping story about the ethical dilemma of nuclear weapons grosses $1 billion, does that track? No,' he said. 'But, because Universal went all in on Christopher Nolan to direct Cillian Murphy, with Emma Thomas producing, with Emily [Blunt], and Florence [Pugh], and this cast and crew and helped them render a g—damn masterpiece.'

In addition to Downey’s win, Oppenheimer took home two other awards. Murphy, 47, who starred as the titular role of American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, won Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama and Nolan, 53, won Best Director — Motion Picture.